Chapter 17

Ignis and Noctis had left the hospital and were heading towards the car. When they got there Ignis opened the door and looked over to Noctis, who already was texting on his phone. Ignis sighed with a slight roll of his eyes before he cleared his throat, getting Noctis's attention back.

"I think it would be much more beneficial if you got into the car first before going on your phone."

Noctis side before nodding. "Yeah whatever."

He reached his arms out towards Ignis and carefully he was helped into the passenger seat. Once he was buckled in and Ignis had placed the wheelchair in the back, he got to the driver's seat and started up the engine. Noctis tuned everything out again and went back to his phone, he was still in the process of texting Prompto and had not hit 'send' yet. He had to type and retype his message until it was exactly what he wanted for it. He finished up his message as quickly as he could before he finally sent it out.

Noctis: sorry about Ignis and stuff I hope that he wasn't being too much on you or whatever
Noctis: just let me know okay?
Noctis: I hope he wasn't mad at you

Prompto: Nah dude! You're good!
Prompto: Or I guess Ignis is good?
Prompto: He just wanted to ask me how we met but my side of the story.
Prompto: Nothing else that was scary or stuff.

Noctis breathed in a sigh of relief. Whatever it was that Ignis had wanted to talk to Prompto about really was nothing. Though he was sure Ignis may have been thinking other things about the subject, he wasn't speaking on any of them yet. Noctis knew well enough that those thoughts would eventually come around, but for the time being everything seemed fine. He could just relax in the fact that Ignis wasn't stopping him from texting Prompto.

Noctis: that's good!

Noctis: see? mom isn't that scary

Prompto: Lol!

Prompto: You're right!

Prompto: Anyways…

Prompto: I already miss you T.T

Noctis: I miss you too :(

Noctis: so get back to talking about King's Knight plans tonight?
Noctis: and other stuff too

Prompto: You bet!

Noctis went on to chat with Prompto as he did, barely even paying attention to the surroundings. It didn't really matter to him anyways. All he wanted was to keep connected to his getaway from the rest of the world. Prompto, his newest friend and now boyfriend. Even if he was keeping Prompto secret from Ignis and Gladio, and pretty much the entire world, he was happy.

In time he would have to come out with the truth. He did want to express his feelings openly one day, especially after the talk with his father. The talk really had made him start to think about it again, and now he was actively thinking that something had to be done within time. Probably not soon, but at least not never anymore.

Eventually the car came to a stop and Ignis turned off the engine, warranting Noctis to look up and see that they had arrived at the rehab center. With some help he got back into his wheelchair and he sighed, looking up at the building before him. He knew this was going to be a long next few days or even weeks.

As long as he had Prompto by his side he knew that he would make it through this. Even if they were apart now and couldn't see each other face to face, he knew that he could rely on Prompto to be there for him in spirit. But first he was going to have to deal with everything for the adjustment for the rest of the day. He knew there would be a lot of talking and outlining his recovery plan. Honestly it was going to be a drag, but he knew he could look forward towards the end of the day where he could just talk to Prompto.

After all of the initial set up was talked over, Ignis brought Noctis to his new room. It was more comfortable looking than the hospital room but he did feel an emptiness knowing that Prompto would never be able to visit him. Letting out a sigh he wheeled himself over to the window and stared out the window.

The view was nice, he knew that Prompto would probably like it. Taking out his phone he tried to snap as best of a picture as he could. He sent it to Prompto after that and waited for his reply. There hadn't been anything since Noctis arrived at the building, but he had told Prompto he would be busy after all. Now at least he finally had the time to relax and chat with Prompto as much as he could.

As he waited he saw Ignis was setting up the stuff that was brought over from the hospital. "How are you feeling Noct?" Ignis asked after a moment.

"Fine," Noctis replied softly. "Just waiting for Prompto to reply."

"I see," Ignis said as he looked up and moved closer to where Noctis was. "Now about this Prompto…"

"You can't stop me from talking to him if that's what you want to get at," Noctis grumbled. He knew it probably wasn't what Ignis was going to bring up, but his initial fear that Ignis would try and stop the relationship still was settled deep in his mind. He didn't want to lose the first thing that really made him feel happy, a different kind of happiness that he had never experienced before.

"That was not what I was going to say," Ignis sighed. "I wanted to talk to you about the research fund that your father and I have begun. It isn't public yet, but I wanted to tell you first."

"Research fund?" Noctis asked as he raised an eyebrow. "Wait! You mean for the Starscourge?"

Ignis nodded. "I had a very detailed conversation with your father the other day over the subject matter. We will put as much as we can into people who are researching a cure. I only hope that it can help and help soon.

Something swelled up in Noctis's chest. An overwhelming feeling was filling up in him and he could barely hold back the tears. The chance that he could save Prompto, a hopeful future that he could be cured from the disease that was plaguing him. If Prompto was cured there would be so much more that they could do. They could finally take their relationship further than just hand holding.

Right away Ignis was kneeling down by Noctis's side, placing a hand on his arm. "Noct? Are you okay?"

Noctis gave a short nod. "Y-Yeah. I'm just h-happy. I really like Prompto and I don't want him to die."

He was cutting it awfully close with saying that he liked Prompto, he only hoped that Ignis didn't pick up on it. He leaned over and wrapped his arms around Ignis, beginning to tear up a bit more than before. "Th-Thank you… for doing this."

Ignis held him in return, patting his back lightly. "Of course Noct. Your happiness is my priority. It would be either way to help find a cure, not just for Prompto but for anyone else that is suffering from that dreaded disease."

"Do you think it will be soon enough? C-Cause Prompto he…"

"Yes, I know that he has dealt with the disease for several years, he is a brave young man to have battled it for so long."

"Y-Yeah and I want him to be able to go out and see the world again. I wanted to take him to the chocobo ranch as well," Noctis admitted softly. "He really enjoyed seeing the live feeds."

"That's very considerate of you Noctis, I'm glad to see you thinking of others."

There was a small chuckle. "I gotta start at some point I guess."

"Well now that you know I will keep you up to date on any developments. If you wish to tell Prompto you may, but in my personal opinion I would advise against it?"

When Noctis stopped hugging Ignis he gave him a confused look. "Why not?"

"I don't wish to give him hope only for nothing to happen soon enough. I'd hate to lead him to disappointment."

"I already had planned on this though! Like I was the one to tell dad to look into funding research! I literally already told Prompto so I could give him hope! I'd rather be supportive and give him something to hope for than make him assume nobody cares about him!"

Ignis was taken back. He hadn't expected Noctis to lash out so suddenly, but he could see the determination in his eyes. He was more serious about this than anything else before. He had to give Noctis credit though, he had made his point much stronger anyways.

"I'm sorry Noct, I didn't mean anything by it. You may go ahead and tell him the news as you wish then."

Noctis nodded his head. "Yeah, thanks. Prompto, he just really needs all the good news he can get."

"I understand. Either way we shall progress with this."

"Hmm yeah, and thanks again."

After a few more words, Ignis said his goodbyes and left for the evening as he had other work to attend to. Noctis still sat in his wheelchair as he mindlessly looked through various feeds on his phone. He was still waiting for Prompto to reply, but there still had been nothing else. There was a but of worry radiating within his chest, but he decided to just give Prompto some time.

Maybe his brother was visiting or maybe he had some doctor appointments. He knew even though Prompto had pretty much nothing to do each day that there was always something that could end up happening. Besides, Noctis did have other things he was supposed to do. Other things aside from adjusting into his new space for the next bit of time.

Today Ignis finally had gathered the homework Noctis needed to do for school. As much as he hated doing it, he knew Ignis would only get on his back more if he didn't. Plus it was nearing the end of the school year. Summer was coming and once summer was here he knew he'd have so much more time to just relax and have fun.

He planned to spend as much time as he could with Prompto. That was already going to be the plan from the start. Sure it would take a lot of convincing from Ignis to let him visit so often, but maybe by then he would tell the truth. That started to give him a bit of an idea to work with.

"By the start of summer, that's when I'll tell Ignis and Gladio. I'll tell them the truth and then I'll be able to visit Prompto more often."

The hours started to pass though and he still had not heard from Prompto. He had his dinner and now it was starting to get later. Noctis tried to fight the feeling again, but he couldn't help himself now after so many hours had passed.

Noctis: hey
Noctis: you okay and stuff?
Noctis: haven't heard from you in a hwhile
Noctis: awhile

Noctis: just wanna make sure everything is okay

Noctis started to wait for a reply again, but much to his surprise his phone started ringing. Prompto was calling him instead of replying. He shrugged through and decided to answer. "Hey Prom?"

"Noctis, uh it's Cloud."

Noctis started to feel cold. Something about this was making him nervous, and he wasn't ready to place his finger on it yet. "Cloud? Why are you answering Prompto's phone? D-Did something…"

"Prompto's fine," Cloud said with a sigh. "He just had a small attack today."

"Small a-attack? What do you mean by 'small attack'?"

There was a pause and another sigh, Cloud sounded so tired and weary. "Earlier in the afternoon the Starscourge started to flare up again. For the past month or so it's been actually fairly quiet or dormant. Whatever the right term is. But today-"

"Wait!" Noctis shouted. His fingers were ice now and his heart was tempted to burst from his chest all at once. "Is he okay?! Is he b-breathing? I thought he was just busy or, or… I thought…"

"Noctis, you need to-"

"How can this happen!?"

"Please, you should really calm-"

"How bad is it? Is he needing oxygen? Oh gods is he… h-he-"

"Noctis!" Cloud said, raising his voice.

Noctis stopped, his eyes widening. He may have just gotten to know Cloud, but he was always either soft spoken or snarky. He had never heard such a strong harsh tone come from him. But it was enough to distract him from dissolving into a panic attack. He closed his eyes, trying to take in some deep breathings, knowing that it was probably for the best. If he wanted to hear the truth, even if it scared him, he needed to be calm.

"Noctis, I understand you are worried, but freaking out isn't going to solve anything. Prompto is fine, he has just been sleeping through most of the day. It's not the first time he has had an attack like this, just the first one in a while."

Without even realizing it, the room started to blur. Noctis went to wipe away his tears, but more of them just kept coming. He couldn't believe that this had happened though he knew he should have fully expected it. Everything had been so nice and smooth since he met Prompto. No attacks and no issues at all during their time together.

He had nearly forgotten how severe the Starscourge could really be by the time he headed to rehab today. Out of all the days that something had to happen, it just had to be today. He felt sick to his stomach now, not knowing how Prompto was going to be. He wanted to believe that Prompto would pull through, he had spent five years dealing with it after all, but the fear was rooted in his stomach now.

"A-And he's just sleeping?" Noctis asked softly.

"Yeah he's sleeping peacefully, the Starscourge has calmed down again within him," Cloud replied. "After resting for a couple days and taking it easy he will be back to his regular self."

"I'm… I'm still worried though. M-Maybe I shouldn't have left today…" Noctis muttered softly.

"What do you mean by that?"

"What if I was what was keeping Prompto's illness at bay? Like I don't know but maybe just him being around me made the Starscourge lessen? I-I should have stayed there by his side. I should have b-been there. I-"

"Noctis, please don't put that on your shoulders. I know you are my brother's boyfriend, but it's my job as his brother to be the one worrying by his side."

"I can worry too!" Noctis snapped. "I can't just not worry about him!"

"That's not… No I don't mean it like that," Cloud said, sighing heavily once more. "He's my little brother, it's my job to worry about him the most out of everyone. Doesn't mean you can't worry too, but don't blame yourself for what happened to him because you weren't here."

"I know," Noctis cried, the emotions overflowing him once more. "I just w-want him to be okay."

"I do too, but the only thing we can do is wait. Prompto is strong, he's fought this for five years."

Noctis swallowed deeply as he tried to find a way to breathe again. This throat was sore and scratched now from his suddenly sobbing outburst. But this conversation was stirring into a way that he had not expected. He knew he could just agree and move on from it, but since he was here he figured he had to make something out of it. "Uh, Cloud? Can I tell you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"So like… I really am in love with Prompto and stuff, and I can't, I mean, I don't want him to… well know you. So I asked my father to help put more funding into research to cure the Starscourge."

There was silence on the other end of the line for the first few seconds. Noctis was afraid that he somehow upset Cloud. If Noctis's father had put funding into research years ago, maybe then the scourge could have been cured already. It was a thought that many probably had thought. If that was the case was Cloud upset that it took five years for something to finally be done about it all? Would he not want Noctis to seem like he is taking pity on Prompto?

He wasn't too sure but thankfully Cloud answered before his thoughts could get away from him. "Thank you." Cloud's voice was almost a bit shaky, another tone that Noctis's didn't expect to hear from him. "Thank you, Noctis. You don't know how much that means to me."

"I just want to help, this is the only thing I can do besides just being by his side in general."

"You are a good kid," Cloud replied. "I'm glad that you connected well with Prompto. Zack will be happy to hear the news."

Noctis smiled slightly. "Good. Let Prompto know too? I'd want to talk to him as soon as I could, but I'll let you spend time with him first as he recovers. Or whenever he wants to reach out to me he can. Just let him know I called, okay?"

"I will. Thank you, Noctis."

"I'll um, let you get back to being with Prompto."

"Have a good night, Noctis." Cloud replied.

Noctis hung up after that. He wiped away any remaining tears that he still had in his system. It still hurt him to know that Prompto had been suffering through a good part of the day. All this time he had tried his hardest to never imagine Prompto's illness getting to the point where he had seen images in the news. The sheer thought of it twisted everything up in his stomach had he felt like he was going to have to burst into the bathroom.

But he managed to breath again, slowing down his rapid beating heart. "Relax Noctis…" he whispered to himself. "Prompto's going to live… he's just gotta live."

Slowly he tilted his head up to the widow and saw the evening sky. There was a single star that already was showing its way within the ever darkening field of setting sun colors. With one last sigh he closed his eyes and pleaded to the Astrals. He rarely did such a thing, but now he just had to give everything a try. "Please… please let Prompto live. I love him and I don't know what I'd do without him. So please… All I ask is for him to make it through this."

Sorry for the wait, but it is finally back! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!